Remembering Trey Helten, a DTES Pillar and ‘Best Friend’

published on May 8, 2025 by Michelle Gamage in The Tyee

Trey Helten, who dedicated his life to helping others day and night in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, has died.

Helten, 42, was an advocate and an activist, a punk who loved karaoke and believed in people’s resilience, an artist, animal lover and dedicated friend.

“He didn’t have boundaries for his help; that’s very rare,” said Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, or OPS, where she worked closely with Helten for years. “He was special. He went above and beyond to help people.”

Around 600 people come through OPS every day, Blyth says, and she’s had “so many” people tell her how close of a friend, or even best friend, Helten was to them.

For many years Helten worked as manager of the OPS. But he didn’t distinguish between his on and off work hours…